


what is marriage if not a piece of paper persevering

by snsk



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: M/M, bird metaphors, why doesn't dan get married? because he's scared of commitment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-17 22:22:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29848380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snsk/pseuds/snsk
Summary: “That’s going to fall,” Dan observed. Phil moved to slide it onto the sofa cushion, and in that moment his attention was diverted Dan had swiftly left the room with heretofore never been seen athletic ability. From somewhere on the floor above, a door banged shut.
Relationships: Dan Howell/Phil Lester
Comments: 19
Kudos: 113





	what is marriage if not a piece of paper persevering

Phil set his phone on the sofa arm.

“That’s going to fall,” Dan observed. Phil moved to slide it onto the sofa cushion, and in that moment his attention was diverted Dan had swiftly left the room with heretofore never been seen athletic ability. From somewhere on the floor above, a door banged shut.

“You can’t avoid me forever,” Phil called.

“YES I CAN!” Dan shouted back, giving his position away instantly. Phil grinned to himself for a bit, then followed him up the stairs.

He stood outside the bathroom door and said in a very calm voice, one he used when approaching spooked wild pigeons: “So, dyeing your hair, huh?”

“Leave me alone,” Dan said in a rather high-pitched way. “I’m taking a big shit.”

“I just didn’t know it was something you were thinking about right now,” said Phil, still very lightly.

There was a pause and Dan said, “Dyeing my hair? I _don’t_ think about it.”

“Well fine, you don’t,” Phil said reasonably. “It’s just that clearly you do.”

“I just see other people with dyed hair,” Dan said very quickly. “And I wonder. That’s all. You know what I think about, what I think about dyed hair. It’s a lot. It comes with a lot.”

Phil wondered how to handle this. This was a situation that required finesse to its approach, that obviously required thought and consideration as to how to handle it delicately because his conversation partner was in the bathroom pretending to take a shit to avoid it. But this particular spooked pigeon had been Phil’s for so long, it was easy.

“You know what I think about dyed hair,” Phil said finally, not letting the silence stretch on too much. “I think it’s a nice thing. I think if you wanted to dye your hair, you could join me in, well, dyeing my hair, and it would be fun. It would be nice. Anytime you’re ready.” He smiled at the door and had to stop himself from reaching out to touch it. “But only anytime you’re ready.”

Dan, on his part, had no issue with letting the silence after that linger. Phil didn’t mind. He did touch the sheen of the door, though, because he really wanted to be near Dan when they were talking about this, and besides Dan couldn’t see him do it, so he wouldn’t make fun.

There was, eventually, a loud sniff.

“As long as you won’t be weird about it,” Dan said, sounding very put upon even through the muffling of the door. “You get so weird about things. It’s just a different hair colour. It would be fine if it was the same colour.”

"It would," Phil said. He promised, “I won’t be weird about it.” He didn't mention that he hadn't been weird about it at all any of the times it had been brought up so far, while Dan had been consistently, significantly weird.

He stepped back when he heard the door unlock. Dan stepped out, still slightly flushed. He didn’t look at Phil, but hugged him, arms around his waist, shoulders hunched so he could press his face to Phil’s chest.

Phil held him very close. Dan was holding him slightly harder than was necessary, so Phil gently ran his hands along his back, all along his still slightly ruffled feathers.

When Dan loosened his hold after a few moments Phil said “Oh I hope you washed your hands.” Dan’s response to that was to still, then slide his fingers all up Phil’s sides and flatten them to his cheeks, which Phil supposed he deserved.

“It was the _biggest_ shit,” Dan informed him, turning on his heel.

“That’s fine,” Phil said. “it’s not like I won’t get my revenge.” As Dan was walking back down the stairs, he raised his voice slightly. “It’s not like you’re stuck with me!”

Dan grumbled something about not being able to wait until the pandemic was over, which was fine. That wasn’t what Phil had meant, anyway, and Dan knew that. They were stuck with the new house. They were stuck with the new things they were planning work-wise, and the probable dog, and the dyeing their hair (maybe), and Phil had years and years and years of stuck-with-Dan ahead of him and that thought was a wild pigeon in the evening air, free and in flight.


End file.
